Elliott prints first children's story

Becky Elliott with a copy of her book, “It’s a Great Day!” Photo by Kacey Ginn

By

Kacey Ginn

You probably wouldn’t expect to find a dinosaur at the pet store. But to a child, that’s exactly what an iguana can look like.

Recently, Clarion resident Becky Elliott self-published a picture book titled “It’s a Great Day!”, a story about a family who pick out an iguana from the pet store. It’s based on her family’s experiences with their iguana, Einstein.

Elliott grew up in Eagle Grove, moved to Webster City and graduated from high school there, and three years ago moved to Clarion to be with family. Her story takes place at Dyvig’s Pet Shoppe, once a store in Webster City owned by one of her classmates, Dale Dyvig.

“I actually started this book in 1995,” Elliott said. “Then a lot of life happened.”

When she started, she told Dale she was working on the story, but did most of the work during 1995 and then let it slide. But after that, whenever she ran into Dale—usually at meetings to plan class reunions—he’d always ask her about the book. Finally, this summer, she decided she wanted to finish it.